Inherent Vice

Synopsis

During the psychedelic 60s and 70s Larry "Doc" Sportello is surprised by his former girlfriend and her plot for her billionaire boyfriend, his wife, and her boyfriend. A plan for kidnapping gets shaken up by the oddball characters entangled in this groovy kidnapping romp based upon the novel by Thomas Pynchon.

During the psychedelic 60s and 70s Larry "Doc" Sportello is surprised by his former girlfriend and her plot for her billionaire boyfriend, his wife, and her boyfriend. A plan for kidnapping gets shaken up by the oddball characters entangled in this groovy kidnapping romp based upon the novel by Thomas Pynchon.

Tech specs

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by DoctorKingSchultz 8 / 10

Hippie Scum

I was fortunate enough to see this at the 52nd New York Film Festival;
the centerpiece of this year's festival, Paul Thomas Anderon's Inherent
Vice (adapted from the Thomas Pynchon novel of the same name) will no
doubt divide critics and audiences. It certainly divided me.

Immediately, the plot starts rolling. "Doc" Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix
in his '70s glory; mutton chops and scraggly hair), a pot-head private
detective, is disturbed by the arrival of his ex, Shasta Fay (Katherine
Waterston). She clues Doc in on a mysterious plot to kidnap a
real-estate mogul (Shasta's current boyfriend) for his money, and the
scrappy "gum-sandal" ventures off into the the beach-towns and
high-hills of California. Receiving help/hindrance from his "friend" at
the LAPD, Lieutenant "Bigfoot" Bjornsen (a clean-cut, hippie-hating
Josh Brolin), Doc rubs shoulders with no shortage of strange and
potentially-dangerous characters. And that's about as much plot as
you're going to get out of me. Doc's adventures are almost episodic,
and connecting the dots from A to B to... G? can be difficult. I have a
somewhat-strong idea of how things unfold, but the specifics are lost
on me. And I even read the book! However, I believe this wasn't
entirely accidental.

In describing Inherent Vice, Anderson has made reference to all kinds
of classic detective stories and zany comedies. On the Hitchcock
classic North by Northwest, he said "Tell me again how he (Cary Grant's
Roger Thornhill) gets to the middle of the field with a plane after
him? I can't. How does he get to Mount Rushmore? I don't know, but it's
great." PTA goes for a film that is high on emotion and fun situations
and low on intricate story. I describe it by saying "There's a lot of
story, but so little of it matters," and that's in the best way
possible. Doing so allows Anderson to focus on his eclectic cast of
characters.

Phoenix's Doc is most-definitely comparable to The Dude (Jeff Bridges)
of Big Lebowski fame, but he's a far more human character than "The
other Lebowski". He has opinions, he's far more active and realistic
than The Dude. He has moments of violence (one in particular that
shocked me and, I'm sure, the other thousand people in the theater).
The trailer's narrator mentions something like "Doc's not a do-gooder,
but he does good." An apt description. Complimenting this burnt-out
detective is Josh Brolin's charismatic badge-holder, "Bigfoot". Brolin
plays Bigfoot as a straight man whose anger can burst out in comical
brilliance. Even ordering pancakes with this guy is funny. The
supporting players are equally on their game, but they have such little
screen time it really boils down to Phoenix and Brolin. Martin Short
appears for a scene that many I know are already considering to be the
film's funniest; Owen Wilson plays a great character whose very nature
I find hilarious; Katherine Waterston is excellent as Shasta, being
morose and desperate. The others among the star-studded cast are all at
least "good", but I won't delve into their roles, which are more like
cameos.

Now, it may come into conflict with what I've just said, but to me,
Inherent Vice isn't particularly hilarious. The trailer certainly makes
it appear to be an almost Tarantino-esque crime/comedy, but truly the
tone is more melancholic. It's not a "downer", but the pale, sort of
washed-out cinematography of Robert Elswit is far more subtle and
restrained than something like Pulp Fiction or Anderson's own Boogie
Nights. This came as a shock to me, as many were touting Inherent Vice
as (paraphrasing) "Anderson's most-anarchic film since Boogie Nights".
Perhaps so, but it never reaches that film's levels of kinetic energy
and life. It's the yin to Boogie Nights' yang, to get metaphorical.
It's more The Master than Magnolia, to keep the comparisons coming.
However, with Inherent Vice, Anderson applies some of his hallmarks in
new and interesting ways. His incredible tracking shots in Boogie
Nights are replaced with more subtle long takes that will sometimes
follow the action, but often stay nearly-static on a conversation for
minutes. This immersive, unflinching approach allows you to become
invested in the performances.

Similarly, Anderson's knack for putting together a soundtrack is tested
in a new way. Rather than blaring '70s rock tunes, the Jonny Greenwood
score and licensed tracks are included in a far more subtle way.
Greenwood's score ranges from classical noir-ish tones to beach-like
guitar music. It's an interesting choice, and one that didn't
immediately strike me upon first viewing.

Some have called Inherent Vice meandering, and I'd say they're
partially right. Depending on how they mean that. It wanders like a
lost dog, yet clearly there's a story going on. It's fragmented, maybe
like Doc's mind as he's stoned, but it isn't exactly a first-person
view we're getting. It's odd, to say the least, but not in an
in-your-face way. It's odd because you'll walk out likely-unable to
connect the story, but you'll remember distinct scenes. Even those
scenes though, may have subverted your expectations.

My "review" here probably sounds inconclusive, and that's because I'm
still not positive how I feel about Inherent Vice. It's definitely
worth seeing; Anderson is an incredible force with a pen and some film
stock (nicely, we were shown 'Vice on 35mm; referring to the Film
Society of Lincoln Center's slogan, Anderson said something like
"Tonight, film really DOES live here!"), and I truly believe him to be
one of the all-time greats already, with only seven films under his
belt. So hopefully my little pontifications have been of some interest.
Able to hold you over until this goes limited in December, or for some
of you, wide in January. Temper your expectations, take the trailer
with a grain of salt, and I'll see you on-line when it opens again--I
need to see it again!

Reviewed by DavidStewart57 10 / 10

A Stoned and Surreal Epic!

Paul Thomas Anderson's seventh film, Inherent Vice, is a surreal,
kinky, and stoned epic of mammoth proportions. The fact that Anderson
decided to be the first director adapt the wild prose of Thomas Pynchon
is an achievement in of itself. Set in Los Angeles in the early
Seventies, Larry "Doc" Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) awakens from his
stony stupor when his ex-girlfriend (Katherine Waterston) tries to find
sanctuary from her real-estate mogul boyfriend, his wife, and her
boyfriend. In traditional noir fashion, not all is simple as it sounds
as a bigger presence is involved with a cavalcade of characters thrown
into Doc's world; a heroin-addicted sax player from a surf-rock band
(Owen Wilson), a coked- up dentist with the libido of a rabbit (Martin
Short), and an LAPD officer/failed actor (Josh Brolin) busting anyone
with long-hair and forming a strange love/hate bond with Doc.

The film is a hybrid of comedy, romance, and mystery inspired by the
major film-noir flicks of the 1940s, such as Howard Hawks' The Big
Sleep and Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear, except that rather than having
Sam Spade chain smoke cigarettes and drink gimlets, you have Doc
Sportello smoking endless joints and drinking tequila zombies.
Anderson's perspective of Los Angeles in the Seventies has been shown
before in Boogie Nights in all its hedonistic glory, but in the case of
Inherent Vice, he manages to capture the mood of L.A. in an earthy, yet
naive glow that mirrors the energy and fear that erupted in the wake of
the Manson murders and the rise of Nixon's silent majority. No matter
how you slice it, Anderson's film fits in the tapestry of other L.A.
noir classics like Chinatown and L.A. Confidential, but with the
comedic antics of a Cheech and Chong film or an episode of Gilligan's
Island.

Joaquin Phoenix gives a brilliantly-nuanced performance as Pynchon's
anti-hero private eye. Unlike his last collaboration with Anderson on
The Master, Phoenix reigns in his eccentricity with a relaxed, yet
stoned, approach and manages to not make Sportello into a clichéd
character of the counterculture thanks to the sharp wit and dialogue of
Anderson's screenplay. Josh Brolin's performance as Bigfoot Bjornsen is
brilliantly comical and tragic as he tries to walk amongst the
Indica-smoke streets with the power and authority of Jack Webb from
Dragnet. Katherine Waterston gives a remarkable performance as Doc's
former flame as she gives a raw and naked performance that is both
sympathetic and mysterious. Despite being on film for only ten minutes,
Martin Short gives a performance of comedic gold with the eccentricity
and insanity as equally as funny as his alter egos like Ed Grimley and
Jiminy Glick. Among the other actors who fill out the film, Reese
Witherspoon as an assistant D.A. and Doc's part-time love interest,
Benecio Del Toro as Doc's confidant and Owen Wilson each give solid
performances.

Jonny Greenwood, in his third collaboration with Anderson as composer,
creates a score that mirrors the Noir-fashioned sounds of Jerry
Goldsmith mixed with the psychedelic sounds of the Laurel Canyon music
scene of the early Seventies. Also, the music of Neil Young's Harvest
album adds an emotional depth to the romantic interludes between Doc
and the women in his life. Robert Elswit's cinematography is as
excellent as his previous collaborations with Anderson as he manages to
capture the long, strange trip into the underbelly of Los Angeles.
Inherent Vice may be at times incoherent and somewhat dense as
Pynchon's novel, but it is one hell of a trip!

Reviewed by jmw6440 3 / 10

Am I Missing Something?

Not more than 10 minutes in, excited as I was to see this movie, I thought maybe I was loosing my smarts...

There is no plot, way too many cameos, it pushes way to hard to be something cool, but falls flat. Lots of non cut a aways....which made it seem like I was watching an acting class. Just didn't feel natural, the pace of duologue awkward, and Phoenix, much as I love the guy, he looked like he was acting... I left feeling like i was back in High School, forced to watch a movie for film class, trapped, couldn't leave, no bathroom break, looking at the clock, and hoping there would not be a quiz later, Cuz I couldn't make sense of what the f*** I was watching....very disappointed...